West Virginia Blue
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HUNTINGTON - Award-winning reporter and long-time columnist Jack Hardin died Tuesday at the age of 84.
He is remembered for covering some of the biggest news stories in the Tri-State during his tenure at The Advertiser and The Herald-Dispatch, including the Marshall plane crash, President Lyndon Johnson's visit and talking an escaped killer into surrendering to police.
Sean Hannity calling President Obama on Fox News Channel a "socialist" every night in prime time on the Fox News Chanel is only the visible tip of the conservative propaganda iceberg. The Right's real power lies in its ability to shape the narrative and define what is fair and out of bounds for the rest of the media.
Last week MSNBC reported the following:
"So you may not hear Mitt Romney say 'Keep America American' anymore, because it was a rallying cry for the KKK group, intimidation against blacks, gays and Jews, and the progressive AMERICAblog was the first to catch on to that."
Within hours, so-called liberals at MSNBC like Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton were falling over themselves to see who could offer the most debasing, abject apology to Mitt Romney.
Predictably, the rest of the so-called mainstream media and more of the "Liberal Media Establishment" weighed in on the issue, all to denounce MSNBC and to portray Romney as an innocent victim.
As recent as last night, Bill O'Reilly and fellow right-wing media ideologist Bernard Goldberg hashed over the affair in Prime Time. The focus of their debate was whether NBC did enough in their apologizing or whether they were still evil because of their so-called liberal bias.
The otherwise normally sensible Mediaite.com describes the story this way:
"It turns out, the (MSNBC's) story was not exactly true. ..."
There is only one little problem with all of this hysteria. MSNBC's story that Romney said "keep America American" and that this was a phrase used by the Klan appears to be 100% factual and truthful!
The Romney campaign initially refused to respond to this story for two days. Finally, they claimed that Romney never said "Keep America, American." They claim he said "Keep America, America." The central point of evidence is a video you can see here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...
When I play the video to various people, most claim they hear Romney saying "Keep America American" (I definitely do). But to be fair, a few do hear Romney saying "Keep America America." But here's what isn't a close call. The Los Angeles Times reporter on December 9, 2011 reported that Romney said this: "We have on one side a president who wants to transform America into a European-style nation, and you have on the other hand someone like myself that wants to turn around America and keep America American with the principals that made us the greatest nation on Earth. And I will do that with your help."
Was the reporter ever contacted by the Romney campaign demanding a retraction? Are there comments on the LATimes website at the time of the story (this was before the controversy broke out)?
No and no.
So now we are supposed to believe that The Los Angeles Times reporter just makes up stuff and that most people who hear Romney on this video with their own ears saying "Keep America American" should disbelieve their own ears and instead put their trust in the Romney campaign's press release.
This stretches credulity.
Another school of thought in most of the media reporters is that MSNBC was horribly irresponsible for not providing more context to the story, presumably to cast Romney in a more favorable light.
Fair enough; let's parse the phrase "Keep America American." After all, it truly would be unfair to pick a random phrase like "I love America" or "I am a vegetarian" and show that the Klan or a Nazi had once used the phrase. But "Keep America American" is not that general. It's not a phrase that easily floats from everyone's mouth. The phrase had a specific meaning in the 1920s and it has one today. The similarity is that in both cases, what it means is this "My ideas and principles are good and the ideals and values of people who oppose us are bad. And these ideas are bad because they got their ideas from other countries and other parts of the world. We should reject their ideas and values not just because they are bad but specifically because their ideas originated from other parts of the world."
It doesn't matter how you slice or dice it, the phrase "Keep America American" is a rhetorical cheap shot used by demagogues in the act of committing demagoguery. No, it doesn't mean Romney is a closet Klansman, but it does mean he uses rhetorical cheap shots that have a long tradition and it's fair game to point out their tradition.
So are we being unfair to Romney for looking at the phrase he used and inferring one set of ideas when he was really implying something else? NO. Just look at the full quote above. Romney is rejecting Obama and his ideas, specifically because Obama's ideas are European. That's what makes them bad, they aren't from America-get it?
What O'Reilly and all of the right wing echo chamber have been doing for the last week is tending to the media landscape. And what they have done, to a remarkable degree of success, is to say that any suggestion of racism among prominent republicans is out of bounds. In the conservative media establishment's worldview, there is no such thing as racism among conservatives. Only liberals can be racist. Therefore any story that hints at or suggests that a conservative is racist is inherently wrong and demands an immediate denunciation and retraction.
This bit of zeitgeist shaping was done with such efficiency and collaboration that it left the other side helpless.
In the conservative world view, it is quite Ok to brand Obama a "socialist" or even a "communist" if he does something so radical as suggesting Richard Nixon's healthcare plan. Never mind that socialism and communism are hated ideologies by most Americans and is represented by regimes such as Cambodia's where 7 million people were slaughtered by a genocidal communist. No, that's considered completely fair, and normal because, well, because that's what every conservative gets away with in the media every day.
But no one is ever allowed to compare any extreme Republican rhetoric with, say, fascists or racists. That's considered automatically beyond the pale. There is an un-written rule imposed by the conservative media establishment and accepted by even liberal mainstream media:
"Thou shalt not accuse any Republican of doing anything even mildly racist or even racist-friendly unless you can capture video tape of the republican saying 'I hate all black people and want to string them all up and kill them!'"
The result is a media climate where any ambitious, smart reporter pulls his/her punches when reporting on Republicans. Don't report anything that can tie a Republican to an extremist cause or organization, even if the facts bear it out. Instead, use that time to report that Obama isn't a citizen or that Bill Clinton made a fortune on Whitewater or that House Democrats want to wage "class warfare" because they want to raises taxes to the same rates they were in 1994.
The strongest form of power is away the subtlest and Conservatives have both overt and subtle power to get the media, all the media, to sell their propaganda.
There's a story with rightwing economist propagandist Russ Sobel with his ever unchanging message on how to unleash capitalism in West Virginia {though from the article it appears he no longer touts Ireland as what happens when those policies are followed). There's also Bray Cary's column basically repeating Sobel's propaganda: government is evil and needs to be smaller.
Yes it does. But if the free market is the solution to all problems and government should be smaller as Sobel and Cary claim, then those people without broadband access should wait until the free market provides it which will never happen. Those people and also those businesses that would benefit - would be "unleashed" - will just have to accept having the world leaving them behind.
When government solves the problem, Senator Rockefeller and others have supported legislation to expand broadband access, I doubt if Sobel or Cary will ever credit government's role.
They'll go back to government is evil and should be smaller and the free market can solve every problem if government would just get out of the way.
You're walking down the street, minding your own business when all of a sudden a well-dressed man in an expensive three-piece suit jumps out of an alley, whips a contract out of his pocket and yells "Give me all your money!" You're terrified of reading all the legalese and he's got a whole pack of lawyers and bankers and bought off government officials in his entourage, so you fork over all your cash and promise to make a monthly payment.
The well-dressed man in the three-piece suit starts to walk away and you think to yourself, "Hey, wait a minute! I just got robbed!" Angry, you storm after him, tap him on the shoulder and yell, "Hey, I just lost all my money!"
But this is when the well-dressed man in the three-piece suit shows his true criminal genius. "You're right!" he says, throwing you off guard. You hadn't expected him to agree with you and validate your anger. And he says it with such enthusiasm and charisma, and here is this very wealthy man who seems to identify with you on an emotional level. It feels good. "I can't believe all that you've lost! You've made sacrifices! You're down on your luck! That's not fair at all!"
The opinions of the Charleston Daily Mail are written by an immature man-child who regularly throws hissy fits in public that show little understanding of history or current events. At some point, you would think the owners and staffers of the newspaper would be ashamed to be associated with such an individual, but that would require they had a sense of pride, decency and regard for truth. At some point, the newspaper might want to present opinion and analysis based off facts instead of the imagination of a man-child who always sees himself as a victim.
West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney had a column printed in a few state newspapers this week.
Raney tries to position himself as a defender of jobs and the well-being of West Virginians (which is funny as he's an ally of the pro-outsourcing U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but that's an issue for another time and place).
And, of course, Raney wants you to overlook the countless jobs his industry has eliminated as they extract record amounts of coal while employing fewer workers using more destructive methods.
Anyway, the piece is typical Raney, loaded with some of the most hysterical rhetoric we've heard since the night the lights went out at Spike Maynard headquarters.
But one line in particular, on the EPA regulating carbon dioxide emissions really jumped out:
"And keep in mind that we are talking about CO2, carbon dioxide, the same thing we all exhale with every breath. How harmful can that be?"
As you can imagine it's a common talking point from the rightwing. Here's the debunk from Media Matters for America:
But scientists are not saying that carbon dioxide is inherently harmful, as Media Matters for America has documented. Rather, they point to the danger posed to the atmosphere by excessive discharges of C02, as the Natural Resources Defense Council has noted:
[A] pollutant is a substance that causes harm when present in excessive amounts. CO2 has been in the atmosphere since life on earth began, and in the right amounts CO2 is important for making the earth hospitable for continued life. But when too much CO2 is put into the atmosphere, it becomes harmful. We have long recognized this fact for other pollutants. For example, phosphorus is a valuable fertilizer, but in excess, it can kill lakes and streams by clogging them with a blanket of algae.
Indeed, while C02 is a natural gas, the current levels in the atmosphere are the result of human activities. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1700's, human activities, such as the burning of oil, coal and gas, and deforestation, have increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. In 2005, global atmospheric concentrations of CO2 were 35% higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution."
According the 2007 United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 "Synthesis Report," "Global GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004." It further explains, "Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropogenic GHG. Its annual emissions have grown between 1970 and 2004 by about 80%, from 21 to 38 gigatonnes (Gt), and represented 77% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2004."
We could ask if Raney is so ignorant that the concept of "excessive" is beyond his understanding, or if he's just trying to confuse readers on the issue - but, considering that this is a guy who probably works closely with teams of lawyers and lobbyists on these matters, we all know the answer.
Are standards truly so low at West Virginia newspapers that dishonest, easily-debunked garbage like this is guaranteed a prime spot on the opinion page?
After 29 workers died at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, talkshow host Rush Limbaugh (4/9/10) fingered the culprit: the miners' union. "Where was the union?" he asked. "The union is generally holding these companies up demanding all kinds of safety. Why were these miners continuing to work in what apparently was an unsafe atmosphere?" As it turned out, the mine, owned by notorious union-buster Massey Energy, didn't have a union. Alerted to his inaccuracy, Limbaugh (4/15/10) doubled down, saying that 85 union coal miners won a decision against Massey and were re-hired. "So there were union workers there, and so the United Mine Workers should have been overseeing their safety.... You people, it's been 21 years. At some point you are going to learn: If you go up against me on a challenge of fact, you are going to be wrong. It's just that simple." What's even simpler? Disproving him: Those workers he's talking about are from an entirely different mine owned by Massey--which has appealed the ruling, so even those workers aren't back on the job yet (AFL-CIO Blog, 4/16/10).
As noted earlier this year, the fact that Massey's mines are non-union is common knowledge in West Virginia. You really have to wonder what the thought process is like in a local conservative's head, when they hear Rush spew something they know is blatantly false and they have to come up with a justification to continue to believe his every word as gospel.
Shorter Phil Kabler of the Charleston Gazette: Joe Manchin campaigned dirty by stating the truth about John Raese's crazy policy ideas and Florida residency but John Raese ran a clean campaign by lying about Manchin and President Obama's policies.
Kabler is another mainstream pundit who is not as good as West Virginia Blue blogger Clem at predicting results. Like Hoppy Kercheval, Kabler had predicted a Raese win and thought Jesse would be more of a factor unlike our very own Clem who nailed it.
Kabler also makes the erroneous claim that newspapers across the state did not report on the federal investigation into the Manchin administration. The stories were in newspapers across the state. Voters also just don't care about the gossipy non-issues that Kabler pushes regularly in his column.
"But the truth is, we're going through a realignment in West Virginia, and this kind of year has been building for a long time. We've already seen Republicans winning other races, like Shelley Moore Capito doing well in the 2nd Congressional District and Brent Benjamin winning for State Supreme Court."
Reality: Capito is the obvious exception that proves the rule. Capito is the lone Republican in the West Virginia Congressional caucus and she's run each election cycle citing her independence from the Republican party and her endorsements from pro-choice groups. Her web site does not even mention she is a Republican.
Brent Benjamin won in 2004 in a seat bought by Don Blankenship by running a campaign that the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal publication, and other national media outlets described as the nastiest campaign in the nation.
So to claim a Republican realignment is occurring at the state level in West Virginia, Ellis has to go all the way back to Republican seats won in 2000 and in 2004. A decade ago and six years ago.
Here's some context from reality for Ellis and his readers: those are the only two. Meanwhile Democrats swept every statewide office and four out of five Congressional offices. In the 2008 election cycle with President Obama at the top of the ticket, Republicans still lost highly funded races for their attorney general and Supreme Court candidates, the secretary of state, and secretary of agriculture as well as auditor, treasurer. Democcrats not only continue to hold on to the House of Delegates, but also the State Senate and have even widened their majorities despite efforts by Don Blankenship to buy Republican seats.
"Who would have thought a few years ago that Justice Spike Maynard could switch parties at his age and be competitive against Congressman Rahall? But that's the new reality we live in now."
Could somebody send a dictionary to the State Journal's opinion writer so he can look up the word "diversify?" Out of 463 words in the column, the words "renewable," "green," "alternative" are no where to be found.
If you think comparing Beck's dystopic rants to this low-budget Kids in the Hall skit is just silly, then compare it to another YouTube (below the jump) comprised completely of Beck clips.
All it lacks is the spontaneous laughter of a live Canadian studio audience.
Hours after the West Virginia mine explosion Monday, scores of journalists from all over the country started arriving - in a very rural area with no communications or places to sleep closer than an hour's drive away.
When the governor began giving press briefings at Marsh Fork Elementary School (this week happens to be spring break, so the children are out), journalists began getting comfortable at the site a few miles from the mine entrance, and we never left. By Tuesday, a couple dozen satellite trucks filled the parking lot, and classrooms with tiny chairs and paintings on the walls were turned into newsrooms and bedrooms.
And all of a sudden there was food - a lot of food. Pepperoni Pizza. Pulled pork and beans. Fried chicken, potatoes and green beans. Cookies. Crackers. Doughnuts of all stripes.
snip
Imagine, here we are, an aggressive and hard-charging bunch of journalists in the middle of this devastated community, and it's THEY who are taking care of US!
The kindness hasn't been lost on any of us. By Thursday, two plastic jars - "school collection" and "community collection" - were put out, and by Friday both had a few hundred dollars. I feel like we owe this school and these people so much more.
When I asked interim principal Shelly Prince how folks could be so giving at a time like this, she said that many felt it was soothing to help others. This situation made them feel helpless, and helping others was doing something. She also said it gave people a chance to show the world what West Virginians are "really like."
"Often on TV, we are not portrayed in such a good manner. We often are portrayed as ignorant and backward," she said. "But we are just ordinary people who live ordinary lives."
I have to disagree. These people are extraordinary.
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